Md. Code Regs. 26.11.26.05

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 19, September 20, 2024

Section 26.11.26.05 - Transportation Conformity - Interagency Consultation Requirements

A. Consultation Process.

(1) Representatives of the MPOs, RPOs, the Department, and MDOT shall undertake an interagency consultation process with the FHWA, FTA, and EPA, in accordance with this regulation and Regulations .06-.08 of this chapter on the development of:

(a) UPWP, transportation plans, TIPs, any revisions to them, and associated conformity determinations; and

(b) The SIP and revisions to the SIP.

(2) The MPOs are the lead agencies responsible for preparing an amendment or revision of the UPWP, the transportation plan, or the TIP and for making conformity determinations.

(3) In nonmetropolitan, or rural nonattainment and maintenance areas, the MDOT is the lead agency responsible for preparing amendments or revisions to the Statewide transportation plan, or the Statewide TIP, and making conformity determinations.

(4) The Department is the lead agency responsible for preparing revisions to the SIP and incorporating TCMs recommended by the MPOs and MDOT.

(5) In the case of metropolitan nonattainment and maintenance areas that have a certified RPO, the RPO is the agency responsible for preparing an air quality plan and for assuring the adequacy of the interagency consultation process with respect to the development of the proposed air quality plan, and any amendments or revisions to the plan.

B. When serving as lead agency, the MPOs, RPOs, MDOT, and MDE have the following responsibilities:

(1) Initiating the applicable consultation process by notifying other participants, convening meetings, preparing summaries, assuring that all relevant documents and information are supplied to all participants in the consultation process in a timely manner, maintaining a written record of the consultation process, and providing final documents and supporting information to each participating agency after approval or adoption;

(2) Enabling regular consultation on major activities (such as the development of a transportation plan, the development of a TIP, any determination of conformity on transportation plans or TIPs, or the development of a SIP) including meetings beginning on a date determined by the lead agency to be adequate to meet the date a final decision is required and continuing at a frequency mutually agreed upon by the affected agencies;

(3) Convening meetings of technical staff as necessary;

(4) Conferring with all other agencies identified in §A of this regulation with an interest in the planning process, providing all information to those agencies needed for meaningful input, soliciting early and continuing input from those agencies, before taking any action, considering the views of each agency and responding to those views in a timely, substantive written manner, and making the views and written response part of the record of any decision or action;

(5) When not fulfilling the responsibilities of a lead agency, reviewing and commenting as appropriate (including comments in writing) on all proposed decisions and actions in a timely manner, attending consultation and decision meetings, providing input on any area of substantive expertise or responsibility, and providing technical assistance to the lead agency or to the consultation process when requested.

C. In addition to serving as lead agency pursuant to §A(2) of this regulation, the MPOs are responsible for:

(1) Developing or approving transportation and related socioeconomic data and local planning assumptions, or both, and providing data and assumptions for use in air quality analysis for SIP tracking and conformity of transportation plans, TIPs, and projects;

(2) Providing transportation demand forecasting for development of on-road mobile source emissions inventories by the Department and MDOT;

(3) In cooperation with MDOT, evaluating potential TCM projects and impacts;

(4) In cooperation with MDOT, monitor regionally significant projects to determine a need for emissions modeling;

(5) In cooperation with MDOT, providing technical and policy input into the development of emissions budgets;

(6) In cooperation with MDOT, consulting with other MPOs on emissions analysis for transportation activities which cross the borders of the MPOs or nonattainment areas;

(7) In cooperation with MDOT, determining which transportation projects should be considered "regionally significant" for the purpose of regional emission analysis (in addition to those functionally classified as principal arterial roadway or higher classifications, fixed guideway systems, or extensions that offer an alternative to regional highway travel), and which projects should be considered to have a significant change in design concept and scope from the transportation plan or TIP;

(8) In cooperation with MDOT, assuring that plans for construction of regionally significant projects which are not FHWA or FTA funded or approved projects (including projects for which alternative locations, design concept and scope, or the no-build options are still being considered), including all plans by recipients of funds designated under 23 U.S.C or the Federal Transit Act, are disclosed by the MPO members on a regular basis, and assuring that any changes to those plans are immediately disclosed and the interagency consultation process undertaken involving the MPO and MDOT and the recipients of funds designated under 23 U.S.C. or the Federal Transit Act;

(9) In cooperation with MDOT, designing, scheduling, and funding research and data collection efforts and model developments in regional transportation, such as household or travel transportation surveys;

(10) In cooperation with MDOT and the Department, evaluating and choosing each model or models and associated methods and assumptions to be used in regional transportation demand analysis, including vehicle miles traveled (VMT) forecasting;

(11) In cooperation with the Department and MDOT, evaluating whether projects otherwise exempted from meeting the requirements of 40 CFR § 93.127 should be treated as nonexempt in cases where potential adverse emissions impacts may exist for any reason;

(12) In cooperation with MDOT and the Department, making a determination as required by 40 CFR § 93.113, whether past obstacles to implementation of TCMs that are behind the schedule established in the applicable implementation plan have been identified and are being overcome, and whether State and local agencies with influence over approvals or funding for TCMs are giving maximum priority to approvals or funding for TCMs, and as part of this consultation, considering whether delays in TCM implementation necessitate revisions to the applicable implementation plan to remove TCM or substitute TCMs or other emission reduction measures;

(13) In cooperation with MDOT and the Department, determining what forecast of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to use in establishing or tracking emissions budgets, developing transportation plans, TIPs, or control strategy implementation plan revisions, or making conformity determinations;

(14) In cooperation with MDOT and the Department, evaluating events which may trigger new conformity determinations in addition to those triggering events established by 40 CFR § 93.104;

(15) In cooperation with MDOT and the Department, developing assumptions regarding the location and design concept and scope of projects which are disclosed to the MPO as required by this regulation, but whose sponsors have not yet decided these features in sufficient detail to perform the regional emissions analysis according to the requirements of 40 CFR § 93.122, as amended;

(16) In cooperation with MDOT and the Department, consulting with the FHWA and FTA on timely action on final findings of conformity; and

(17) In cooperation with MDOT and the Department, obtaining guidance on conformity and the transportation planning process for agencies involved in the interagency consultation process.

D. In addition to serving as lead agency pursuant to §A(3) of this regulation, MDOT is responsible for:

(1) Circulating draft and final environmental impact or assessment documents to appropriate agencies;

(2) Convening air quality technical review meetings on specific projects as needed or when requested by other agencies;

(3) In rural nonattainment areas and areas not included in an MPO, assuring the proper completion of transportation modeling and regional emissions analyses and the documentation of timely implementation of TCMs needed for conformity assessments; and

(4) Representing jurisdictions outside the metropolitan planning area within the nonattainment or maintenance area on the MPO when determining conformity on all projects in those areas.

E. In addition to serving as lead agency pursuant to §A(4) of this regulation, the Department is responsible for:

(1) Developing emissions inventories and budgets;

(2) Tracking attainment of air quality standards and emission factor model updates;

(3) Gaining final approval at the State level for control strategy implementation plan revisions and maintenance plans;

(4) In cooperation with MDOT, choosing conformity tests and methodologies for isolated rural nonattainment and maintenance areas;

(5) In cooperation with MDOT, evaluating and choosing each model or models and associated methods and assumptions to be used in hot-spot analysis;

(6) In cooperation with MDOT and MPOs, consulting with the EPA on review and approval of updated motor vehicle emissions factors, emission inventories, and budgets;

(7) In cooperation with MDOT and MPOs, obtaining guidance on conformity criteria and procedures for the agencies involved in the interagency consultation process; and

(8) In nonattainment areas where an RPO has been certified, cooperating with the RPO in the development of emissions inventories and budgets, and in the development of regional air quality plans.

Md. Code Regs. 26.11.26.05

Regulation .05C amended effective January 29, 2007 (34:2 Md. R. 139)
Regulation .05E amended effective January 29, 2007 (34:2 Md. R. 139); June 30, 2008 (35:13 Md. R. 1182)